Fire and Fantasy: A Limited Edition Collection of Urban and Epic Fantasy

by CK Dawn

  “I know, it’s just the Lure. Once my scent leaves you, your senses will come back. You need to step away.”

  Blair pressed his face further into her neck. “I’m sorry, Lil.”

  “Nothing to be sorry about, it’s not your fault.”

  He nodded and then jerked himself from her and stumbled down the hall.

  Lilja pushed off the wall, watching him stagger away. “Sorry.”

  “Damn sirens,” he mumbled, shaking himself. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

  She tightened her robe and slunk into her room, closing the door. Stupid Lure. It turned men stupid around her. Lilja began to shrug off the robe sticking to her skin when something pricked her gill. Something suspiciously sharp and short, like a dagger.

  “You will answer for what you’ve done.”

  Hayjen.

  Nothing like ending your evening at knife point.

  Lilja breathed shallowly so as not to provoke the man behind her into doing something they would both regret. “Calm down, Hayjen.”

  “Don’t tell me to calm down, murderer.”

  She winced as her neck stung and she felt blood trickle down onto her collarbone. “Okay.” Her eyes flitted to her desk where she had daggers stashed. If she could move him in that direction, she might be able to defend herself and knock him out. A tendril of fear snaked through her at the plan forming in her mind. Maybe if she went limp she could use her dead weight to unbalance him and get away. But she also ran the risk of being cut.

  “Stars above,” Hayjen muttered, pulling her back against his broad muscled chest. “What is that bloody smell?”

  Lilja blinked. The Lure. Either the Lure would work in her favor—distracting him enough that she could escape—or it would anger him enough that his lust would turn to something sinister. His nose pressed behind her ear and his hand tightened.

  “What is that?” he demanded, his voice tight. “It’s like chocolate, citrus, and sin.”

  She squeezed her eyes closed and tapped into her sultry side. “What do you think it is?” She lifted a hand and ran it along the fingers gripping the dagger. “My body is calling to you.” His voice hitched. Carefully, she drew a pattern on the forearm wrapped around her body. “Can’t you feel it?”

  “I don’t know what you are talking about,” Hayjen panted even as he pulled her closer, molding her to himself. “What is happening?” he whispered.

  “Biology.”

  A hot tongue glided up her neck causing her breath to stutter out in shock. He paused then jerked away, pulling her wet hair from her neck. “What the hell?” The arm around her body released her and touched one of her gills. “What in the hell is that?”

  Lilja seized the moment of his distraction and wrenched the dagger far enough from her neck that she was able to slither out of his arms. Her hand stung from the cut, but she barely felt it as she lunged for her desk. Hayjen crashed into her, causing her to hit her head on the corner of her desk. Stars dotted her vision and her stomach rolled. Blindly, she kicked out and was satisfied when she felt her foot connect and a curse exploded out of Hayjen. She crawled to her knees, the world spinning around her. She needed to secure a dagger. He wasn’t in his right mind. A hand landed on her hips and flipped her over. Lilja grunted and lashed out, hitting whatever she could. In a quick maneuver, her hands were pinned beneath knees as Hayjen sat on her hips. No matter how she bucked, the giant man didn’t move.

  “Stop moving,” he growled.

  “So you can kill me? I don’t think so!” she hissed, the pain in her head so bad that tears dripped from the corners of her eyes.

  “I said stop it.” Cold metal touched her collarbone.

  She stilled. The dagger danced along her skin, pushing her hair from her neck, and paused on her gills. Lilja’s eyes slammed shut. By seeing her gills, he basically signed his own death warrant. Blair would never let him escape with her secret. “Don’t,” she pleaded.

  “What are you?” Lilja felt him lean forward to study them. “What are these?”

  “Just forget what you saw and leave.”

  “No, I want answers.”

  “I don’t have any.”

  “Lies. Stop lying to me.”

  The darkness in his voice made the hair on her arms stand. She swallowed and uttered something she rarely admitted out loud. “They’re gills.”

  Silence reigned in the room except for their harsh breathing. “You can breathe underwater?” he questioned.

  She went to nod, but froze when the nausea overwhelmed her. “Yes.”

  Hayjen stiffened. “The dreams are real,” he murmured. “Look at me.”

  Lilja squinted through her pain and met his untrusting eyes.

  “Did you save me from the Leviathan?”

  Staring back, she didn’t blink. “Yes.”

  Hayjen’s mouth pinched and the skin around his eyes tightened. “Why?”

  “Because it was the right thing to do.”

  “Damn it.” He pulled the dagger from her neck and slammed it into the floor. “Then why Mer?” he cried. “Why? She was only a little girl!”

  “Hayjen.”

  “Why her? Why not me?”

  “Hayjen.”

  “What?” he yelled, glaring down at her.

  “Look at me.”

  His eyes filled with confusion. “I am looking at you.”

  “No,” she said softly. “Look at me. Who do I remind you of?”

  “No one. You’re too unique to look like anyone I know.”

  “You’re looking but not seeing. Think of possibilities. Who looks similar to me?”

  Hayjen’s eyes scrutinized her face. He paused when his eyes met hers. They just stared at each other until suspicion, recognition, and shock flitted through his gaze. “Mer.”

  Relief shot through her bones. The guilt of keeping the truth from him had weighed her down more than she’d realized.

  “You’re lying,” he said.

  “Why would I lie? Think, Hayjen. Doesn’t it make sense?”

  He cursed and looked out the window, his gaze darting back to her eyes, face and hair—then to the window. “Mer?” he asked with so much longing and pain that it nearly killed her.

  “Alive.”

  His breath rushed out of him, his eyes glazing over. “How?”

  “Leviathan respect us.”

  “How can I believe you?” He shook her a little bit, causing blackness to encroach on her vision.

  “The proof’s in front of you,” she gritted out. “You’re alive and so am I.”

  “I want to see her.”

  “I don’t know if you can, but I will try.”

  “Trying isn’t good enough. I need to see her with my own eyes.”

  Frustration built in her. “There are laws.”

  “What are you talking about? What damn laws?”

  “Sirenidae laws!”

  Hayjen’s eyes widened. “You are spouting nonsense.”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “The Sirenidae aren’t real.”

  “Says who?” she challenged, feeling sick.

  “History.”

  “Well, history isn’t always correct. You felt the Lure.”

  He jerked back and scrambled off her. “You controlled that?” he yelled.

  Lilja grabbed her head, pain exploding as she tried to sit up. “No, I can’t control it.” She blinked at Hayjen as he blurred into three people. “I’m sorry,” she whispered before everything went black.

  Ten

  Hayjen

  Her eyes rolled back and she crashed to the floor. The loud crack had him back at her side in no time. “Lilja?” Nothing. Hayjen leaned forward and scanned her face, his stomach dropping. He was so angry that he hadn’t noticed how badly she was bleeding. He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her a bit. Still nothing. Damn. He quickly ripped a section of her robe off and wrapped the wound. When he pulled his hands back they were covered in blood. He blinked. She was bl
eeding on the back of her head, too? What should he do? He shuddered again at the sight of the strange lines on her neck. She wasn’t human, but that didn’t mean she shouldn’t be treated with humanity. She needed a healer. But if he took her to a healer, questions would be asked—questions neither of them could afford to answer. Plus, if she died, he wouldn’t get more answers out of her. He would have to take her home.

  Grimacing, he pulled her limp body into his arms and carefully stood. With difficulty, he opened her door and shuffled down the hallway. He paused in the dark, listening for any sign of life. If her crew caught him with her looking a mess, they would kill him on the spot and ask questions later. When no sound reached him, Hayjen swept across the deck and down to the dock. Drunken singing, crass jokes, and thundering waves filled the air around him. He pulled the hurt pirate closer in his arms and moved as speedily as he could. His heart practically beat out of his chest when he passed one of her crewmen. Luckily for him, they weren’t paying any attention to him.

  Wetness dripped down his arm and into the crook of his elbow. He gritted his teeth and picked up his speed. When the forge came into sight, relief filled him. His arms were practically shaking from carrying her so long. He didn’t dare throw her over his shoulder because of her head wound. Hayjen cut across the yard and stormed into the dim kitchen. “Gwen!”

  His sister and a rumpled looking Colm burst into the kitchen and halted, staring at the bloody woman in his arms.

  Gwen’s eyes snapped to him, an accusing light glowing in them. “What did you do?” she growled.

  Shame filled him. He didn’t cause all her injuries but he’d cut her. He hurt her.

  His sister spun to the sink and began pulling towels and rags from her collection of healing supplies. “Put her on the table, Hayjen. Colm, could you heat up some water?”

  Colm grunted and disappeared into the other room.

  “Put her on the table.”

  “She has a wound on the back of her head, too.”

  Gwen glared over her shoulder at him before she turned back to her herbs and towel, angrily digging through them. “Lay her on her side then.”

  With care, he placed her on her side, making sure that she was covered by what was left of the robe.

  “Get out of the way,” Gwen growled, shoving him aside.

  Hayjen stared, clenching and unclenching his hands. “What can I do to help?”

  “You can get out,” she said coldly.

  “I want to help.”

  A hard laugh rumbled out of his sister as she placed a towel beneath Lilja’s head. “By the looks of it, you’ve helped enough.”

  He glared at her, his emotions still high after the night he’d had. “I didn’t do this.”

  “Sure, brother. You spoke of nothing but revenge earlier, and then you show up with a battered bloody woman in the middle of the night.”

  Colm bustled in with the hot water. “Where do you want this, sweetness?”

  “In the bowl with the herbs.”

  He watched as she began to clean the large wound on the pirate’s face. “She’s going to need stitches. Hand me the whiskey, Hayjen.”

  Obediently, he grabbed the spirits and passed them to his sister. She poured the spirits over the sizeable cut. “That will kill whatever is in there. Colm, could you heat up my needle?” The large man nodded and disappeared out of the room again. “I am going to need your help holding her. It’s going to hurt. She’s passed out for now, but it won’t be a pleasant experience for anyone.”

  Hayjen sat on the table and stared blankly at the pale woman on their table. He had caused this. What had he been thinking?

  “Hell if I know.”

  His head snapped up.

  “You were talking out loud,” Gwen grumbled.

  “Sorry.”

  “You should be.”

  Thoroughly chastised, he contented himself to hold the captain’s hand while his sister readied the thread and needle. Gwen brushed aside Lilja’s hair and froze, squinting at the straight pale lines on her neck.

  “What in the hell?” she whispered, looking up at him with wide eyes. “What are those?”

  “Gills.”

  “What?” she gasped, leaning closer to get a better look. “How?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “What is she?”

  “A damn dirty Sirenidae,” came a voice from behind them.

  He and his sister both jerked and turned to see Joseph hovering in the doorway wearing a look of disgust. “Get that creature out of my home.”

  “She’s hurt. She needs care.”

  The old man slashed his hand. “I won’t have their kind in my home.”

  Gwen straightened. “I don’t care what you think. I’m not throwing out an injured woman.”

  The old man’s face reddened. “Now listen here, Gwen, you’re like one of my own, but you don’t understand what they can do to you. They’re dangerous.”

  “Does she look dangerous to you?” Gwen flung a hand out.

  Joseph’s lips thinned. “I don’t like it.”

  “Well too bad. Go get some rest. You need it.” His sister turned her back on Colm and his father. Colm ushered his father out of the room, then rushed back in with Gwen’s needles.

  Hayjen eyed the needle skeptically. “You sure you know what you are doing? You hate sewing.”

  His sister’s scowl deepened. “I can sew a damn straight line. Butt out.”

  Colm hid a grin behind his wife’s back that made Hayjen burst out laughing.

  “Do you find this funny?”

  “No,” he gurgled. “It’s just, could this night be odder?”

  Her lips lifted into a slight grin. “I doubt it. Now quit messing around and hold her still.”

  He held her head and forced himself to watch as Gwen sewed the cut closed, one small stitch at a time. Lilja’s eyes fluttered and one eye cracked open. “Gwen?”

  “I know.” She tied the thread and tugged. “Done.”

  Hayjen stared down at Lilja’s one open eye. “It’s okay, you’re safe.”

  Quicker than he could have expected, she knocked him off the table. The air rushed out of him as he smashed into the floor and stared up at the woman crouched defensively on the table, her pupils blown wide. One hand clutched her head, the other held the bottle of spirits. Her odd eyes darted around the group of people.

  “What do you want with me?”

  Gwen held up her hands in surrender. “Nothing. You were hurt and we were helping you.”

  “With drugs and needles?” Lilja spat, shifting as her entire robe gaped open.

  Colm’s head snapped to the wall, studiously ignoring the body on display.

  “I didn’t give you any drugs. The herbs and spirits were to keep the wound from being infected. You managed to hit the front and back of your head. Also, your robe is open.”

  The pirate ran her hand to the back of her head and winced. “That hurts,” she muttered, doing nothing about her nudity.

  “I imagine so. If you’ll get down from the table, I’ll clean it and bind it for you, but you need to put the bottle down.”

  “I don’t know you.”

  “I’m Gwen, that’s my husband Colm, and the one on the floor gaping at you is Hayjen, my brother. I believe you know him already.”

  Her eyes latched onto the sight of him slipping the bottle from her fingers. “Indeed. I don’t feel so good.”

  Hayjen kept his eyes on her face and launched from the floor, catching her before she fell off the table unconscious.

  Gwen hurried to his side and closed Lilja’s robe with a good knot. “We need to move her to a bedroom. Maybe we can tie her to the bed so she can’t hurt herself.”

  “Tie her to the bed?” Colm questioned.

  “Did you not just watch her almost hurt herself?”

  “Yes, but don’t you think it would scare her when she wakes up?”

  “Good point, my love.” She turned her gaze back on Ha
yjen. “I guess it’s up to you to check on her all night. Did you see her eyes? She has a concussion.”

  “I thought so,” he whispered as he stared into the captain’s face. He lifted her body from the table and followed his sis through the house to his room. When he gave her a look, she shrugged.

  “This is the only one available. It’s not like you’ve been using it since you got here.”

  That was true.

  He placed her on his bed and stepped back, allowing Gwen to work. Once his sister had arranged the bedding and the woman to her liking, she stepped to his side, still staring at Lilja.

  “We have a lot to talk about in the morning.”

  Hayjen swallowed. “I know.”

  Gwen pierced him with a look when she glanced up. “I love you. Goodnight.”

  “Love you.”

  She placed a soft kiss on his cheek and tiptoed out of the room. He moved the chair from the corner next to the bed and groaned as he sat. What a night. Emotion after emotion rolled through him, wearing him out to the point where he just wanted to sleep so he could forget how stupid he’d been. Shame at what he had caused was still acute. Hayjen plucked the pirate’s hand from the blanket and held it. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry. I was wrong.”

  He was sure he’d pay for it.

  Eleven

  Lilja

  Her head pounded.

  What had she done last night?

  Lilja cracked her eyes open and slammed them shut, the light causing pain to pierce behind her eyes. She lifted a hand to her head and whimpered when her whole body cried out. Why did everything bloody hurt?

  “Shhhhh…” a male voice soothed. A large hand smoothed back her hair from her face. “You’re okay.”

  She didn’t feel okay. It was like she’d been thrown from a horse. Lilja wet her cracked lips and tried to speak, only managing a croak.

  “One second.”

  A chair scraped back, causing the pain in her head to flare. Cool metal was pressed to her lips. Reflexively, she opened her mouth and gulped down the cool water. She sighed as the water soothed her parched throat. “The light,” Lilja murmured. Fabric rustled and then darkness descended. “Thank you.”